Installation creates prison of light

An amazing light installation that was on display at the Mapping Festival, which took place in Geneva between the 2nd - 12th May this year, trapped visitors in a prison of light.

Isotopes v.2 by Nonotak Studio was inspired by events surrounding the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami back in 2009. The result of this natural disaster led to a meltdown at the Fukushima's nuclear power plant, an event classed as a Level 7 Disaster, the highest level issued by the government.

The installation is an open space that slowly surrounds the visitor in a barrier of intense light, a play on human-kinds approach to nuclear power.

Watch a video of the installation in action below and for more information click here.

The best in Neon

London-based light artist Chris Bracey is currently displaying his works in his first solo exhibition at Scream Gallery in London titled 'I've looked up to heaven and been down to hell'.

The artist, who learnt his trade from his father, has manipulated his lights into incredible designs using themes he mixes with religious iconography, retro fairground bulbs and neon advertising styles.

Bracey has also provided dramatic installations for films such as Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Batman films.

Many of Bracey’s works are self-produced neons, referencing popular culture – “Shine A Light in the Darkness of Your Soul” was written by Martin Gore from Depeche Mode and “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” is from a song by The Smiths.

His work also draws upon iconic imagery such as tattoo designs, Las Vegas and Soho.

The exhibition is on display until the 1st June 2013.

Interactive sculpture in motion

A new collaboration between Hyundai's Advanced Design Centre and Berlin-based WHITEvoid, an interactive art and design studio, has created Fluidic.

The project sees 12,000 suspended spheres acting as 3D pixels or voxels which are illuminated by an array of high-speed lasers. The magic happens thanks to 3D cameras that detect a person and react creating patterns and shapes based upon their movements.

The piece was part of Hyundai's involvement with Milan Design week, the third time it has participated in the show, and was housed at the Temporary Museum for New Design. The interactive sculpture was inspired by nature and its ability to continuously adapt to a changing context, which Hyundai think of as part of their general design philosophy.

On April 8, the day of the preview, the German choreographer Nikeata Thompson directed a special performance featuring art, music and dance in the presence of the press and opinion leaders. In the days dedicated to the public Jan Jelinek of SCAPE, a seminal figure in contemporary electronic music, gave a special performance describing the rhythmic confluence between design and sound titled "Fluidic Art meet Fluidic Sound ".

Whilst many would have missed the chance to experience this for themselves, as it was only open to the public on the last weekend of Milan Design Week, 13th -14th April, there are plans to take it on the road, updates to be posted on the Fluidic page.

Watch a video of the sculpture in action below and visit the Fluidic page for more information and images.

FLUIDIC - Sculpture in Motion from WHITEvoid on Vimeo.

Art that's good enough to eat

In Australia Kit-Kat decided to commemorate their limited edition white chocolate bar by holding back the last 50 and melting them.

But that isn't the full story, they got illustrator Mike Watt, to use the melted chocolate and crushed biscuits to make some incredible posters using only a scalpel remove any unwanted chocolate.

The posters won't last forever as after a while the hard chocolate will crack and break away from the canvas, but before all that happens they have managed to post them all up on their Facebook page. 

The designs have been called Kit-Kat White Final Fifty and is a great example of creative art and design.

Take a look at them here.

A visual exploration of Google Image Search

In her latest and ongoing project, artist Dina Kelberman has created a fantastic blog that documents patterns found on Google Image Search. 

Called 'I'm google' the project involves a seamless link between pictures found via image search, from one subject to the next based on similarities in form, composition, colour, and theme.

The result is a colourful and intriging compliation of images that links pictures of planes dropping fire retardant to orange kayak to a bridge, which all feels so natural when you go through the blog.

The Tumblr blog came out of Dina's natural tendency to spend long hours obsessing over Google Image searches, collecting photos she found beautiful and storing them by theme.

Often the images that interested her are of industrial or municipal materials or everyday photo snapshots, not those that appear to be intentionally artistic.

Follow her blog here.

Touchscreen gestures brought to life

An artist has decided to immortalise gestures used with touchscreen products. In her project 'Multi-touch gestures', Gabriele Meldaikyte built 5 different sculptures that used the main gestures associated with touchscreen devices.

The gestures, which seem to be becoming second nature to most, including some babies trying to swipe a magazine to read it, are also seen as a signature of the Apple iPhone.

Gabriele believes that these will be completely different in 10 years time so wanted to immortalise them by translating this interface language of communication into 3D objects which mimic every multi-touch gesture.

The Shed at the National Theatre

A new temporary venue has been built on an unused plaza  of the National Theatre in London.

Called 'The Shed', the venue will show new productions that it deems "adventurous, ambitious and unexpected".

Open for a year from April, The Shed provides a new way to watch theatre, offering seats from £12 up to £20, with special days planned, including talks before or after shows. 

Seats are either located at stage level or in a gallery providing patrons with an intimate view of the productions.

The building was designed and built by Haworth Tompkins, who are also incharge of the current redesign materplan for the artistic hub, and the design would seem to match the type of productiosn they plan to put on, with its vibrant colour and shape.

To find out more watch a video of lead architect Paddy Dillon talking about the design below.

haworth tompkins: the shed at the national theater, london from designboom on Vimeo.

Edinburgh's giant balloon sculpture

A sculpture made completely of balloons has been unveiled as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival at the National Museum of Scotland.

The piece was designed and built by American artist Jason Hackenwerth, who is known for his organic and biological forms made from latex balloons.

The sculpture, titled Pisces, is the artist’s interpretation of the legend of Aphrodite and Eros: in Greek mythology, Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and her son, Eros, escaped the fearsome monster Typhon by transforming into a tightly woven spiral of two fish, a figure which later became a constellation called Pisces.

The piece is made up of 10,000 balloons, which took 3 staff members 6 days to inflate before Jason and his assistant Leah Blair wove them carefully into this three dimensional structure.

Pisces will be on display in the Grand Gallery of the National Museum of Scotland through April 14th, 2013. More images are available on Flickr.

Payphones become time machines in Manhatten

In New York City a project by Droga5 in collaboration with the New Museum has allowed inhabitants to listen to the sounds and memories of 1993. 

Part of an exhibition which highlights 1993 as a year of change for the city and the world titled "NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star," the payphone experience gets users to call a special number from selected phones across the city, which in turn allows them to relive that location in 1993.

The phone project titled Recalling 1993 is a huge undertaking, using tour guides and locals to re-tell stories, and is the first use of the payphones whose future is facing some speculation since the age of the smart phone.

An interactive map of the payphones included can be found here. Below is a video outlining the project.

Recalling 1993 from Droga5 NY on Vimeo.

Touchscreen gestures brought to life

An artist has decided to immortalise gestures used with touchscreen products. In her project 'Multi-touch gestures', Gabriele Meldaikyte built 5 different sculptures that used the main gestures associated with touchscreen devices.

The gestures, which seem to be becoming second nature to most, including some babies trying to swipe a magazine to read it, are also seen as a signature of the Apple iPhone.

Gabriele believes that these will be completely different in 10 years time, and so wanted to immortalise them by translating this interface language of communication into 3D objects which mimic every multi-touch gesture.

Interactive art that mimics

Daniel Rozin's Mirrors seem to be pretty normal sculptures until you take a step closer, then they shift to mimic you. 

Currently exhibiting at Bitforms in New York until the 6th April, his 'mirror' pieces shift the patterns formed on them to mimic the viewers shape in real-time. This is done via cameras that detect shapes and cause the LEDs to change the pattern on the screen. Whilst not recreating a persons image perfectly, the screen will copy movements made until the person steps out of range.

The exhibition, called Angles, features some of the artists other kinetic work, which also interact with their surroundings and work on a principle of merging the geometric with the participatory.

New London listings service – This At There

It's Nice That, which publishes exciting, original and engaging work from both established names and talented newcomers, has produced a new listings service for London.

Called This At There, the listing service is a re-invention of their old 'whats-on' focused currently on Art and Design events in London. The listings are put in order of when they finish, so hopefully you won't miss the shows you really want to see.

They are looking to roll it out worldwide eventually with more cities being added later this year, but by keeping it London focused will allow them to keep on top of it for now and work out any teething problems.

You can find out more about the new service here.

Christo's big air package

Big Air Package from Christo opened this month at the Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany. 

It is reported to be both the largest inflated frameless envelope and the most expansive indoor sculpture ever created.

The 90 meter high inflatable boasts a volume of 177,000 cubic meters and uses 20,350 square meters of semitransparent polyester fabric as well as 4,500 meters of rope. Despite lacking a skeleton the 5 ton form fills the interior of a former gas tank.

Christo describes the experience as 'virtually swimming in light' as a result of the vast expanses of fabric, lit from above via skylights in the Gasometer.

Filled with diffused natural daylight and muffled sounds it becomes a place of tranquility.

The project runs until 30th December 2013.

Photos: Wolfgang Volz © 2013 Christo

Clouds inside create silver-lining for artist

Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde controls the weather and creates beautiful indoor clouds with the help of a smoke machine and dramatic lighting.

The fog machine emits dense vapour / smoke that makes contact with sprayed water and forms a small white cloud.

Smilde, who lives in Amsterdam, said he wanted to make the image of a typical Dutch rain cloud but inside. ‘I imagined walking into a classical museum hall with just empty walls,’ he said. 'There was nothing to see except for a rain cloud hanging around in the room. I wanted to make a very clear image, an almost cliché and cartoon-like visualization of having bad luck. Indeed there's nothing here and bxxxxcks, it's starting to rain!"  

The few people who have seen the clouds in person should consider themselves very lucky; each cloud only exists for a moment before dissipating.  

To document the clouds Smilde photographs them; the only proof of their existence if a viewer misses them.  

The first exhibit, called Nimbus, was created by Smilde in 2010.  

Watch videos of the creation of the clouds below.